Draymond Green blocks 2 Hawks in last minute to seal another Warriors win

Draymond Green’s numbers are down to start the 2016-17 season, but his elite versatility has been no less important to the Golden State Warriors than it was over the two previous record-breaking seasons. His ability to run the offense as a big man continues to open up new options for Golden State’s league-leading attack, and his willingness to defend all five positions ensures that the Warriors can switch with impunity. The team certainly remains a work-in-progress with Kevin Durant and a new bench rotation, but Green is surely helping that process move along relatively speedily. It’s no mistake that they entered Monday’s home game against the Atlanta Hawks with 11 wins in a row and the league’s best record at 15-2.

[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Basketball contest now | Free NBA Yahoo Cup entry]

Atlanta succeeded in frustrating the hosts and playing most of the game at its preferred slower pace, but Golden State exerted their dominance in a tremendous fourth quarter that saw the visitors score just 19 points. Green was the single biggest reason for that game-winning shift, coming through with two blocks in the final 45 seconds to seal a 105-100 win. Most impressively, he showed his versatility by swatting two different players:

These two plays are the perfect examples of why Green is the most versatile defensive player in the NBA. In the first play, he switches onto the very quick Dennis Schröder as a center and manages to keep him in front of him despite several attempts to shake him. In the second, Green meets rangy wing Kent Bazemore near the hoop as the last line of defense and strips him for a turnover on the recovery. There are maybe only one or two other players in the league who could make these plays in so short a time. Add in Green’s strengths as a defensive communicator, and it’s hard to deny his talents.

[Follow Dunks Don’t Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]

The other numbers were not there for Green on Monday (four points on 2-of-9 FG, seven assists, three rebounds in 39 minutes), but that was true for most of the Warriors’ key players. The Hawks’ league-best defense frustrated a Warriors offense that had been electric for several weeks with tough interior play from the likes of Dwight Howard and Paul Millsap, to the point where it seemed like this contest would throw lots of cold water on the idea that Golden State was just shy of juggernaut status. The only Warrior to have anything like an excellent game was Andre Iguodala (12 points on 5-of-9 FG, five assists, five rebounds), whose plus-18 in only 28 minutes was more than double Green’s second-best plus-8.

That poor form turned around in the fourth quarter, but it’s worth noting that the Warriors are still very dangerous even when things aren’t going their way. Stephen Curry (25 points on 4-of-11 3FG), Kevin Durant (25 points on 8-of-16 FG), and Klay Thompson (20 points on 8-of-18 FG) all finished with at least 20 points despite long periods of difficulty, and the Warriors still put up 25 assists on 37 assists. These are numbers that many teams would take as evidence of strong balance — that the Warriors see them as below average speaks volumes about their current ceiling, let alone what they could eventually become.

Plus, the defense showed that it can be plenty stingy when called upon. Green’s blocks were the clear highlights, but holding the Hawks to 41.9 percent shooting from the field and a 7-of-29 mark from deep is a mark of strong play over 48 minutes. For all the talk about their iffy defense so far this season, the Warriors have given up the eighth-fewest points per 100 possessions in the NBA.

The offense deservedly gets most of the attention, but Golden State has proven it can win in several ways. Opponents will continue to pursue and certainly find new ways of stopping them, but the Warriors are already a serious problem after just one month together.

– – – – – – –

Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @FreemanEric